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Posted on 06/10/2011 7:44:35 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
It's everywhere in the South. The green, winding vines of kudzu line highways, climb trees and fill backyards. It can be downright aggravating if you want to get rid of it.
Except if you're a sheep or a goat.
"They'll eat just about everything," Brian Cash, of Decatur, told the AJC.
As the owner of Eweniversally Green, Cash makes a living helping customers fight off kudzu, ivy and other weeds. His employees? About 100 four-legged friends.
"Primarily sheep and a few well-behaved goats," Cash, 30, said.
Unwanted greenery gets chomped away quickly when Cash brings his animals by. The sheep stay busy, but they don't mind. Plus, the change of location every few days is nice.
"The animals are on really good, lush food," Cash said. "It's like going to a fancy restaurant every day."
Although using livestock to control plant growth is common in rural areas, Cash said he's the only one with a business like his in Atlanta. He grew up in Dunwoody, nowhere near the country, but he's been interested in livestock since he was a child.
Since he started the venture earlier this year, both he and the animals have been busy, going from site to site all over town. Customers are asked to provide water for the animals and to wash all the greenery down. And Cash brings along a temporary, solar-powered fence that goes up quickly to prevent the animals from escaping or getting injured.
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
Don’t let cows or goats you plan to milk eat kudzu, gives the milk a peculiar flavor.
Plenty of other uses for the stuff though, it turns out. Several creative local farmers have found a way to convert a big stand of it into a cash crop. Harvest and bale, feed it to livestock. The vines are saleable to craft shops for certain wreaths and flower arrangements. The young leaves are edible and fairly tasty fried up in a light batter. Jellies made with the purple blooms tastes nice enough, the color seems to intensify as it’s cooked, which is unusual. And finally, the roots are not just edible but regarded as medicinal in Asia. Good hangover cure, helpful to stave off alcohol cravings in those who have a problem with it.
The vine that ate the south might turn into a blessing instead of a curse after all, lol. Now, if I could just figure out how to make biofuel out of it.
The free enterprise system at work. I like stories like these.
That might be worth looking into. The neighbors are gonna start talk when I'm out back torching weeds in various manners.
Pressing it doesn’t produce much except a pulpy mess. Not a source for vegetable oil (yes I tried it, lol).
Shhh, the democRATS/Peta/EPA will find a way to close it down or tax it heavy.
Thanks for the warning. No pressing. Check.
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pfft, server fart.
Sheep belonging to Brian Cash, the owner of Eweniversally Green, were hard at work at the home of Kathie and Kevin Brown in Dunwoody on Friday, June 10, 2011.
Neat story OP! Thank you!
Ain't enough goats/sheep in the world to get rid of the southern scourge known as Kudzu.
Neat story OP! Thank you!
Neat story OP! Thank you!
Lots of double posting tonight. I think FR is running slow.
The sheep don’t just eat the kudzu; they actually convert it into a nice fertilizer which they graciously deposit around the yard.
I once had a plan that was so un-PC and so efficient that it would have blown liberal fuses all over the planet.
Briefly, take young herd boys from any of the East African pastoral tribes, Pokot, Turkana, Karamajong, Maasai. Only a single tribe a a time, though. Bring them & their young goats & lambs to the SE USA.
Rent the boys & their goats to clear Kudzu covered land. Half of the boys watch goats in the morning, the other half go to school. At noon, swap places. After just under a year, load the boys, their fat goats and sheep onboard a ship heading to Africa.
Stop by Jeddah on the way back to Mombasa in time the sell the livestock to the pilgrims doing their haj. Drop the boys back at Mombasa with tickets home, half the cash from renting & selling the livestock, and a good start to an education.
Use the other half of the income for the expenses of the entire operation.
Now that’s a symbiotic relationship! Otherwise known as “Win, Win, Win”.
Just another wild & crazy idea from BwanaNdege!
;-)
Full of Kudzu seeds.
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